Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

The Decorative Micro Tomato Project

Collapse
This is a sticky topic.
X
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    The Decorative Micro Tomato Project

    Welcome to the Decorative Micro Tomato project! Here is some information to guide you when participating in this project, things to look for, and what the goals are. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask!

    Goal
    The goal with this project is to develop multiple varieties of Micro Tomatoes which offer some form of differentiation from a normal micro tomato, that someone might consider putting in a flower garden, or otherwise want to display for the features of the plant, or fruit.

    Foliage
    While there are some known variations in foliage type, such as Rugose, Potato Leaf, or as we're seeing in many of Dan's crosses - "carrot leaf" - there isn't much variation in color. There's green. Darker green. Lighter green. And green green green. There are a few varieties which do offer some color variation, primarily "Variegated" varieties which offer a mix of green and white or light cream.

    Variegated tomato leaves
    Click image for larger version

Name:	variegated_tomato.jpg
Views:	564
Size:	140.6 KB
ID:	2294

    Flowers
    Tomato flowers are almost all yellow, or at least some shade of yellow. They have small petals, typically, but they do differ in the number of petals. Some flowers are so-called mega-blossoms which look more like a dandelion flower. Given the number of wild tomato species and the genetics they contain, one might wonder what possibilities there are for flower variation. Some wild species have large flowers, some have flowers that are near-orange. With some cross-breeding, one might wonder what is possible?

    Why?
    This idea was born out of an exchange Diane, Dan, and myself were having and the idea of decorative tomatoes came up. Of all the available tomatoes, micros seem like a good growth habit with which to pursue this avenue. All other growth habits require special care, typically, such as staking, caging, baskets, etc - but a micro, if the fruits aren't too large, can typically stand on its own and is relatively small.

    Notes
    This project is going to require some time to acquire some varieties and species samples with which to make some crosses. It will be a bit before we have any seed available for you all to try out.

    #2
    IF Tiny every flowers and produces something similar to its self it could be a good candidate for this category. It is a cute little tree like plant... but so far no buds or blossoms on it.

    Comment


      #3
      when you say "Tiny" - is this micro tom? Or something else?

      Comment


        #4
        Tiny is one of my plants from the 172X F2 seeds. It is from the first batch of seeds planted on Aug 12, 2020. Currently it is about 5 inches tall and has an upright tree like growth habit. Every thing is small and proportionate to his size. I have uploaded a photo of him before... but as mentioned so far it has shown no sign of producing buds or flowers...

        Comment


          #5
          Really looking forward to the results of this experiment! My dream is a world where indoor tomatoes are as common as Christmas poinsettias. Different coloured flowers, foliage colours, and flower shapes - I can't wait!

          Of course the most interesting foliage differences often have unexpected side effects. Chartreuse folieage tomatoes like Bonté Tigret and Groovy Tunes get leggy when grown in anything other than strong light. This is my first time growing Shimofuri, but I can already see that like Variegated it is more prone to edema than the standard foliage tomatoes I sowed at the same time.

          And weird blossom can result in weird fruit - fused blossoms/megablooms are so cool, but the fruit usually is disconcerting to the average tomato eater.

          I don't have grow out space at the moment, but I'll be watching this forum with a lot of enthusiasm!

          Comment


            #6
            Has anyone seen the flowers on the tomatoes Lofthouse is currently working on? These are big tomatoes but the flowers are fascinating. He has been selecting for size and exerted stamens

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by wykvlvr View Post
              Has anyone seen the flowers on the tomatoes Lofthouse is currently working on? These are big tomatoes but the flowers are fascinating. He has been selecting for size and exerted stamens
              Yes, they are so cool! Some are for sale here: https://store.experimentalfarmnetwor...ions/lofthouse

              Comment


                #8
                Wry grin not sure if we could get those big flowers on our little tomatoes but it could be interesting...

                Comment

                Working...
                X